Bill Clinton Gets It

This is from an article on the BBC, but I don't have a link for it. Don Beck cited this in the SDi listserve;

BBC World Service: 16 August 2006, A Bill Clinton Quote:

Q. How fundamental is the clash of values in war on terror & how long will it continue?

A. Well, I think the clash of values is more important than the religious differences. What will they have if they win a war only because they can force both sides into the killing of civilians? That is basically what happened in Lebanon . Hezbollah fired all those rockets and then hid among civilian populations. What kind of world will they be leaving for their children and grandchildren? Do they really believe they have the absolute truth and that they cannot accommodate differences?

The central question for our time is not how you worship God, or even whether you worship God. It's whether you believe in this life you can be in possession of the absolute truth and you have the right to impose it on others. We need to remember that, too, those of us who are the targets of terror. Because we are rich, we are strong, we have sometimes been insensitive to the weak and to the claims of people who couldn't get high enough on our agenda. So if we want to exhort people and persuade them as well as prevent them from engaging in terror we have to act like we believe our common humanity is more important.

Wouldn't it be nice if our current president understood this fundamental truth? This might be a "sensitive self," postmodern, relativist viewpoint, but Clinton also is centered enough in the rational, corporate mentality to get that the best way to deal with egocentric authoritarianism is to appeal to its need for status and power that Western money and influence can provide. The mullahs won't be able to squash that basic human need forever.

Tags: Bill Clinton, Middle East, war on terror, values, absolute truth, Spiral Dynamics